Research status of traditional Chinese medicine regulating Th17/Treg balance in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis / 中国药房

Rheumatoid arthritis （RA） is a refractory autoimmune disease that can cause symmetrical polyarticular disease. The key mechanism of its occurrence and development is the dysequilibrium of helper T cell 17 （Th17）/regulatory T cell （Treg） balance. Therefore， reconstructing Th17/Treg balance may be a new strategy for the treatment of RA. Traditional Chinese medicine has significant advantages in the treatment of RA such as integrity， multi-target， multi-link and multi-path. This paper summarizes the basic and clinical studies on the regulation of Th17/Treg balance in the treatment of RA by traditional Chinese medicine in the past five years， and finds that the active components/sites of traditional Chinese medicine such as flavonoids， alkaloids and terpenes have unique advantages in the regulation of Th17/Treg balance. The traditional Chinese medicine compound formula interferes with Th17/Treg balance by exerting the effects of dispelling wind， dehumidifying， removing blood stasis， unblocking collaterals， relieving pain， dispersing cold and strengthening health. The effect of external treatment of traditional Chinese medicine is obvious and can be used as a clinical adjuvant therapy for RA； related mechanisms of action include regulating the production of inflammatory factors， regulating the expression of transcription factors and interfering with the activation of signaling pathways. However， the existing research has the shortcomings of insufficient mechanism research， few clinical research， limited external treatment research of traditional Chinese medicine， and lack of combination therapy research， which need to be improved by follow- up research.

Study on the molecular mechanism of Linggui Zhugan Decoction in treating hypertension and obesity based on network pharmacology and molecular docking technology / 国际中医中药杂志

Objective:To explore the material basis and mechanism of Linggui Zhugan Decoction in treating hypertension and obesity by means of network pharmacology and molecular docking technique.Methods:The TCMSP was retrieved and the main active components and action targets of Linggui Zhugan Decoction were screened. The GeneCards, OMIM, TTD, DisGeNET and DrugBank databases were used to screen disease-related targets of hypertension and obesity. The Cytoscape 3.9.0 was used to draw Chinese materia medica-composition-intersection target-disease network diagram. The STRING 11.5 database was used to draw PPI network. The cytoNCA plug-in was used to screen core active components and targets. The bioenrichment analysis of GO and KEGG was carried out in the R4.1.2, and the Chinese materia medica-intersection target-path diagram was drawn, and the core active components and core targets were docked in PyMOL and AutoDockTools 1.5.7.Results:A total of 102 potentially active components and 62 intersection targets were obtained, and 8 active components and 7 core targets were screened. Enrichment analysis showed that the key targets were mainly enriched through the signaling pathways of fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis, lipid and atherosclerosis, and AGE-RAGE, which were involved in biological processes such as the response to nutritional levels and the regulation of small molecule metabolism. Molecular docking showed that there were 37 groups with addinity < -7 kcal/mol.Conclusion:The main active components of Linggui Zhugan Decoction are quercetin, kaempferol and naringenin, which may play a role in fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis pathway, lipid and atherosclerosis pathway and AGE-RAGE signal pathway through AKT1, EGFR, IL1B and other targets.

The effects of lifestyle factors on the incidence of central obesity in Chinese adults aged 35-74 years / 中华预防医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To understand the incidence of central obesity and its characteristics, and explore the effects of lifestyle factors on incidence of central obesity in Chinese adults aged 35-74 years.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 27 020 Chinese adults aged 35 to 74 years were enrolled in a prospective follow-up study (the study cohort was built from 1998 to 2000, respectively) during 2007 and 2008. Central obesity was defined as waist circumference ≥ 90 cm in men, ≥ 85 cm and ≥ 80 cm in women, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate relative risks (RR) of central obesity for lifestyle factors after adjusting factors including genders, age, southern and geographic region, urbanization, lifestyles, and so on.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among Chinese adults aged 35-74 years, the standardized annual incidence of central obesity (waist ≥ 90 cm) was 2.19% for men and this rate decreased gradually with age among people younger than 65 years old. The incidence of central obesity was 2.64% (waist ≥ 85 cm) and 4.06% (waist ≥ 80 cm) for women, respectively, and this rate increased obviously among people aged 55 to 74 years. Participants with ≥ 12 years' education (RR = 0.84, 95%CI:0.74-0.96) had a lower risk of central obesity(waist ≥ 90 cm for men, waist ≥ 85 cm for women). And this risk increased as the monthly household per capita income increased. Compared with the reference group, people involved in housework or retirees (RR = 1.17; 95% CI: 1.01-1.36), drinking alcohol (RR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.01-1.32) or scented tea (RR = 1.49, 95%CI:1.28-1.72) had a higher risk of developing central obesity, while drinking milk (RR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.74-0.97) or black tea (RR = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.58-0.95), had a lower risk of developing central obesity.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>A healthy lifestyle plays a key role in the prevention and control of central obesity in Chinese adults, and a healthy way of lifestyle should be promoted in the whole society to decelerate the epidemic of the central obesity.</p>

Establishment and practice of traditional Chinese medicine property cognitive model based on three elements / 中国中药杂志

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) property theory is believed to be a key and difficult point of basic theory studies of TCM. Complex concepts, components and characteristics of TCM property have long puzzled researchers and urged them to develop new angles and approaches. In the view of cognitive science, TCM property theory is a cognitive process of storing, extracting, rebuilding and summarizing the sensory information about TCMs and their effects during the medical practice struggling against diseases under the guidance of traditional Chinese philosophical thinking. The cognitive process of TCM property has particular cognitive elements and strategies. Taking into account clinical application characteristics of TCMs, this study defines the particular cognitive elements. In the combination of research methods of modern chemistry, biology and mathematics, and on the basis early-stage work for five years, we have built a TCM property cognition model based on three elements and practiced with drugs with pungent and hot properties as example, in the hope of interpreting TCM properties with modern science and providing thoughts for the nature of medical properties and instruction for rational clinical prescription.

A theoretical and experimental study on the Fuzzy evaluation model of biological performance of Chinese materia medica with an either cold or hot herbal property / 中西医结合学报

The concepts of cold and hot herbal properties in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), reflecting the efficacy trends of medicinal herbs, have the Fuzzy characteristics. It is suited for the application of Fuzzy mathematics in research of herbal properties. For a comprehensive evaluation of herbal properties, this work constructed and made a practice of the Fuzzy discrimination model regarding the biological performance of Chinese materia medica.

Study of biological performance of Chinese materia medica with either a cold or hot property based on the three-element mathematical analysis model / 中西医结合学报

The properties of Chinese materia medica are believed to be the summarization of the effects of biological performance on the various body states. Systemic discussion of chemical-factor elements, body-condition elements, biological-performance elements and their interrelationships is needed for research into the properties of Chinese materia medica. Following the practical characteristics of Chinese medicine, the three-element mathematical model was formed by introducing some mathematical concepts and methods and was used to study the cold or hot property of Chinese medicine, and to investigate the difference in biological performances of the two properties.

Difference of hypaconitine concentration in serum between cold-deficiency and normal mice / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the difference of hypaconitine concentration in serum between normal and cold-deficiency mice after administration of aconite decoction. To analyze how the toxic dose of aconite decoction correlate to the metabolic environment.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Prepared cold-deficiency mice model, treated normal and cold-deficiency mice with aconite decoction for 14 days continuously, and then detected hypaconitine concentration in serum by HPLC along with survival ratio of mice on the first, seventh and fourteenth day.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>After administration of aconite decoction for 14 days, the hypaconitine concentration in serum of cold-deficiency mice is close to that in normal mice. It showed aconite decoction has the ability of regulating metabolism environment, the hypaconitine concentration in serum of normal mice was higher on the seventh and fourteenth day than that on first day. It showed that aconite decoction can disturb metabolism environment of normal mice. It was also been observed that the range of variation of hypaconitine concentration in cold-deficiency mice was minor than that in normal mice during the fourteen days' administration.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The difference of serum concentration in normal and cold-deficiency mice showed that there were different metabolic environments in two mice models, and the metabolic environment changed during administration. These results showed that the different toxic doses of aconite decoction were partially due to the different metabolic environments.</p>